01/29-30/12: Ben Folds - Fifty-Five Vault (2011)

01/29-30/12: Ben Folds - Fifty-Five Vault (2011)

1. Adelaide (Live in Adelaide 2011)+
2. Air (from Godzilla: The Album)
3. All Shook Up (Elvis Presley cover) (B-Side of "Kate")
4. Ascent of Stan (Live in NYC 2002)+
5. Birds (B-Side of "Army")
6. Bitch Went Nutz (Live in Amsterdam 2008)+
7. Bizarre Christmas Incident (from Maybe This Christmas & 7" vinyl single)
8. Brick (Live Acoustic Version 2003)+
9. Champagne Supernova (Oasis cover) (Live in London 1996) (B-Side of "Battle of  Who Could Care Less")
10. Cologne (Piano Orchestra Version 2008) (from Stems and Seeds)
11. Dr. Yang (Live in Belgium 2008)+
12. Evaporated (Demo 1992)
13. Family of Me (from Over The Hedge)
14. For All the Pretty People (B-Side of "Kate")
15. Free Coffee (Live in Germany 2008)+
16. Girl (B-Side of "Rockin' the Suburbs")
17. Golden Slumbers (The Beatles cover) (Live in NYC 2001)+
18. Hava Nagila (Live) (B-Side of "Battle of Who Could Care Less")
19. Heist (from Over The Hedge)
20. Hiro's Song (Shaker Version) (Live in Melbourne 2011)+
21. Honey Don't (Carl Perkins cover) (Alternate Take 2000)+
22. Hospital Song (Live in Philidelphia 1999)+
23. House (Original Mix 2011)+
24. I Knew That Cha Could (Demo 2000)+
25. In Between Days (The Cure cover) (Live 2005)
26. In Love (Demo 1998)+
27. It's Alright with God (Mitch Easter Sessions 2000)+
28. Jesusland (Live in Jakarta 2011)+
29. Jesusland (Stadium Version) (Live in London 2005)+
30. Lonely (Demo 1996)+
31. Lost in the Supermarket (The Clash Cover) (from Over the Hedge)
32. Make Me Mommy (B-Side of "Rockin' the Suburbs")
33. Mess (Live in Boston 2007)+
34. Mitchell Lane (Outtake from Whatever and Ever Amen)
35. Narcolepsy (Live)+
36. One Down (B-Side of "Rockin' The Suburbs")
37. Prince Charming (Mitch Easter Sessions 2000)+
38. Prologue (Outtake from Over the Hedge)
39. Protection (Demo 1992)+
40. Radio Jingles for Tokyo's Inter-FM
41. Rockin' the Suburbs ('06 Remix) (Outtake from Over the Hedge)
42. Say Yes (Elliot Smith cover) (Live at the A.V. Club 2010)+
43. She Don't Use Jelly (The Flaming Lips cover) (Lounge-A-Palooza Version)
44. Side of the Road (Lucinda Williams cover) (Alternate Cello Version)+
45. Silver Street (Demo 1994)+
46. Smoke (Demo 1994)+
47. Song for the Dumped (Demo 1996)+
48. Steven's Last Night in Town (Demo 1996)+
49. Theme from Dr. Pyser (Studio Version)
50. Underground (Demo 1992)+
51. Video Killed the Radio Star (The Buggles Geoff Downes, Trevor Horn & Bruce cover) (Outtake from Whatever and Ever Amen)
52. Where's Summer B.? (Live at WNEW 1996)+
53. Wild Mountain Thyme (Alternate Take 2010)+
54. You to Thank (Live in Adelaide 2011)+
55. Your Cheating Heart (Hank Williams cover) (Live 1996)+
56. Your Redneck Past (Live in London 1999)+

   + denotes previously unreleased track

     I am counting this lengthy listen as my 29th and 30th entries. Ben Folds recently released an anthology of sorts called "The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective". This collections expanded edition included a disc of greatest hits, a disc of live performances, and a disc of rare demos and other various recordings. In addition to that set he released a download only "3 disc" set of 56 rare live performances, demos, covers, soundtrack contributions, b-sides and alternate versions from Ben Folds Five and Ben Folds' solo career called "Fifty-Five Vault".
     I spent most of my day at work today cranking through this 3 hour collection of rarities. Seeing that this was an additional 3 discs of stuff I didn't expect it to be as quality as it was. Every live recording sounded great and most of the chosen tracks would either show you a different take on an old favorite  like the acoustic guitar version of "Brick" as performed by The Bens or be a cover that they only performed live. I had heard some of the covers like their amazing Lounge version of "She Don't Use Jelly" by The Flaming Lips but i had yet to hear most of the covers or the many included B-sides that were already released.
      Included is also their rather large contributions to various movie soundtracks. One of my favorite Ben Folds Five songs "Air" is included. I was glad to have it somewhere other than the American "Godzilla" soundtrack. There were really a lot of solid Gems that I had yet to here. Many of the old demos in this collection were really great. There were demos going back as far as 1992. Some were songs I had never heard and will be tracks i go back to. There was a lot of demos in the last quarter of this collection that were really an enjoyable tail end to this large journey. It was nice hearing original versions of songs i loved back when i was 12-13 years old. Ben Folds (Five) won't go away and i like it. He is one of my oldest musical interests and it was nice to relive his career from a different angle today. (029&030)